I became deeply interested in American vernacular music in the mid 1980s. It was an interesting and challenging time to find recordings. The record business was in flux. Older LP… Read More →
Here & There
Cinnamon Tree, by Nora Brown
This is a phenomenal album. You should get it. End of review. What? I need to say more? I’m going to try not to mention Nora Brown’s age. As the… Read More →
Speed Bumps on a Dirt Road: When Old Time Music Met Bluegrass, by John Cohen
“These beautiful and honest photographs take me back,” writes Alice Gerrard in her brief, heartfelt introduction to John Cohen’s Speed Bumps on a Dirt Road: When Old Time Music Met… Read More →
Holy Smoke! by Rafe Stefanini and David Bragger
One could say that fiddle and banjo reign supreme as the heart and soul of old-time music, and in saying so, one would be telling the truth, even if the… Read More →
Old World Music of the Southern Appalachians, by Hog Eyed Man
Old-time music has always looked backwards for its inspiration. This fourth record from Jason Cade (fiddle) and Rob McMaken (lap dulcimer, mandolin, guitar) is a good example of the strong… Read More →
The Fries Session
All four of the musicians on The Fries Session live in or near Fries, Virginia, which is in Grayson County. They are part of a musical heritage that extends back… Read More →
Fiddle Noir: African American Fiddlers on Early Phonograph Recordings, 1925-1949
Just prior to mp3s and streaming platforms, not to mention the vinyl resurgence, Old Hat was nearly on par with Dust to Digital for not only allowing many of us… Read More →
Pictures from Life’s Other Side: The Man and His Music in Rare Photos and Recordings, by Hank Williams
Hank Williams’ Mother’s Best Flour Show radio transcriptions were long the stuff of legend, reportedly snatched from the jaws of a dumpster by Grand Ole Opry photographer Les Leverett circa… Read More →
La Coppia Sciascia: Italian Folk Songs from Abruzzo, 1927-1930 by Pasquale and Chiarina Sciascia
Geography, it’s been said, is destiny. That explains why the music of émigrés to early 20th century America was recorded long before that of long-rooted communities in the South: the… Read More →
Allison de Groot and Tatiana Hargreaves (self-titled)
The first time I heard Tatiana Hargreaves play the fiddle, she could not have been more than ten years old. I was wandering the campground at Portland’s Pickathon festival and… Read More →
The Highwoods Moment
Old-time music experienced a great loss in February 2020, with the passing of banjo player Mac Benford. Mac had submitted this essay to the OTH a few months earlier, and… Read More →
Teodar Jackson and African American Fiddling from Texas: Lost Music from the Rural
by Dan Foster Note: This article was written in part to celebrate the release of a new CD of old-time fiddling from the Field Recorders’ Collective, Teodar Jackson with T.… Read More →
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History the “Great Man” Missed: Critiquing Ken Burns’ “Country Music”
Early Country Music, from the Top Down Before the debut broadcast of Country Music, filmmaker Ken Burns’s paean to American exceptionalism, that popular music genre was beloved among its core… Read More →
Tommy Thompson: New-Timey String Band Musician by Lewis M. Stern
Sam Shepard, playwright and actor and musician, either did or did not in sit in on drums with the Red Clay Ramblers. (Historian differ, as Alan Jabbour might have said.)… Read More →
Roger Netherton (Self-Titled)
It’s hard to imagine a more energetic approach to old-time music than is found in this CD from fiddler Roger Netherton and friends. The opening tune, the newish “Tippin’ Back… Read More →
Goodbye My Honey I’m Gone by Molly McBride and the Sigogglin’ String Band
Molly McBride is Fieldwork Coordinator at the Michigan Traditional Arts Program. She’s also a first-rate fiddler who plays with great assurance. Mind you, there’s nothing flashy here: it’s all about… Read More →
